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**U.S. Department of Justice**        Office of Community Oriented Policing Services            145 N Street, N.E.       Washington, DC 20530      www.cops.usdoj.gov×         Menu         - Home
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**Combatting the Opioid Epidemic            Includes Caring for the            Children Impacted**
  May 2018 | Volume 11 | Issue 5
- A 5 month old child dies in his  crib after waiting for days for someone to feed him. What he doesn’t know is  that his mom and dad overdosed on heroin 3 days ago in the house.             
- An 18 month old is administered  Narcan by emergency personnel after rolling over on a heroin needle while  playing at his residence.             
- A 5 year old child watches as  paramedics help his parents who have passed out, overdosed on heroin in the car  in which they were all driving in.            
- An 11 year old child reports that  her mother takes her to a drug dealer where she has sex with the dealer in  exchange for her mother getting drugs. The girl reports that this has been  going on for months because her mother doesn’t have a job.             
- Children were found alone in an  apartment with trash and moldy food on the floor, no running water, buckets  full of feces and urine, flies everywhere, empty cupboards, and no fresh food  to eat. Mom and Dad left earlier that morning to get opioids to get high. The  children were filthy, delayed, and unsupervised.  

The  opioid epidemic is impacting so many children and families across our country  every day.  This epidemic is also  impacting many communities through increases in crimes such as  robberies, home invasions, child abuse and  neglect/child endangerment, drug distribution, drug usage, human and sex  trafficking, thefts, and assaults; all of these crimes are making communities more  dangerous and making community professionals reactive, instead of proactive. In  order to completely address the issues this epidemic has raised, we have to  address the impact it is having on children.

The  children that have been impacted by the opioid epidemic are in need of  intervention too. They need as much, if not more, intervention and services  than their parents in order to grow up and have normal lives. These children  need to first be identified by law enforcement and other professionals at the  earliest point possible. They then need ongoing services and support by  professionals trained in trauma informed work. If we do not intervene in these children’s  lives now, they will become the next generation engaged in substance abuse as  well as child abuse and neglect later. These children are 100% of our future and  if we do not do something to change the trajectory of these children’s lives,  then who will...

***So  how do we do help to combat this epidemic along with helping children?***

**About National DEC:**The National Alliance for Drug  Endangered Children (National DEC) is a national nonprofit whose mission is to  break these multi-generational cycles of substance abuse as well as child abuse  and neglect by empowering and training professionals who work to change the  trajectory of the lives of children and families living in drug environments.

**What National DEC is Doing  to Combat the Opioid Epidemic:**   National DEC is providing training and  technical assistance to state, tribal, and local communities and all those who  respond to and care for drug endangered children as well as those who work to  prevent and address child abuse and neglect. This includes law enforcement,  child welfare, prosecutors, judges, medical personnel, teachers, emergency services,  probation/parole/corrections, treatment providers, prevention specialists, and  other professionals within these communities.   National DEC is bringing professionals together to truly collaborate and  have a multidisciplinary response; something that is unprecedented yet working  across the country.

National  DEC advances community policing and addresses crime by furthering the DEC  mission through a unique **three tiered  training program**:
- Tier 1:  “Core DEC Awareness”  training  assists communities and professionals in understanding the prevalence of drug  activity and substance abuse and how it severely impacts children. The training  enhances the ability of professionals to identify drug endangered children and  the risks and trauma they face and highlights the opportunities through  collaboration for changing the status quo to help drug endangered children,  their families, and their communities.            
- Tier 2:  “DEC Approach”  training is  designed to move professionals from awareness to action. This interactive  training directly engages all disciplines in developing collaborative  partnerships, helps participants gain a deeper understanding of each  discipline’s roles and responsibilities, assists in decreasing frustrations  between disciplines, and gets participants discussing and focusing on solutions.  The training effectively gets participants to identify and implement changes  they can make in their practice to assist drug endangered children.            
- Tier 3:  “Local DEC Development Training  and Facilitation”  is hands-on training and facilitation that provides the  foundation for developing a local DEC alliance as a formal, sustainable  structure for on-going collaboration, on-going change, and sustained  organizational transformation. This includes MOU’s, protocols, work plans, community  assessments, alliance goals and strategic plans, and access to promising  practices and solutions from other jurisdictions that have established DEC  alliances. Local Development provides professionals and communities with a  roadmap and toolkit for sustaining efforts and implementing solutions to assist  in the opioid epidemic. 

            National DEC’s  response to helping professionals and communities is impacting children and  communities in a positive way! To find out more or to schedule training, please  contact National DEC staff at info@nationaldec.org.   Visit the National DEC website for more information.

**Definition: Drug  Endangered Child -** The National Alliance for Drug Endangered Children defines drug endangered  children as those “at risk of suffering physical or emotional harm as a result  of illegal drug use, possession, manufacturing, cultivation, or distribution.  They may also be children whose caretaker’s substance misuse interferes with  the caretaker’s ability to parent and provide a safe and nurturing environment.”   The essence of this definition is that  “Children + Drugs = Risk.”  The DEC movement  challenges all of us to recognize these risks and to work together using the  DEC Approach to protect children from abuse and neglect, which all too often  occurs across generations. By working together and leveraging resources, we can  provide drug endangered children opportunities to live in safe and nurturing  environments free from abuse and neglect. 

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The Community Policing Dispatch is the e-newsletter of the COPS Office. 

The Community Policing Dispatch is the e-newsletter of the COPS Office. 

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